If the Hawthorn can win its 11th Premiership on Saturday, it will become the outright 5th most successful club in VFL-AFL history. The Hawks will be behind only Carlton (16), Essendon (16), Collingwood (15) and Melbourne (12) and those four clubs all had a 28 season head-start, entering the League in 1897, rather than 1925. It is interesting to reflect that at the end of 1960, when Hawthorn was still without a Flag, Collingwood had already won 13, Melbourne 11, Essendon 10 and Carlton 8.
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Fremantle will become the 10th different team Hawthorn has played in a Grand Final, joining Essendon (3), Geelong (3), North Melbourne (3), Carlton (2), Footscray (1), St Kilda (1), Melbourne (1), West Coast (1) and Sydney (1). Interestingly, Hawthorn has been the opponent for both Western Australian clubs in their first Grand Finals.
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Winning the Grand Final will also mean that the 2013 Hawks will have won more games in a single season than any previous Hawthorn team. In the home and away season, they equalled the 1971, 1988 and 1989 teams with a 19-3 record but, because under the Four/Five only two Finals’ victories were required to win the Flag, those teams only added two further wins in September. So last Friday night, the 2013 Hawks joined those three teams on 21 wins for a season and will aiming for number 22 this Saturday.
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Last Friday’s night win against Geelong was the 9th time Hawthorn has won a Final by 6 points or fewer, an outstanding record given that the club has lost just 4 by that margin. Geelong now provides 3 of the 9, while others on the list are Adelaide (2), St Kilda, Fitzroy, Melbourne and Port Adelaide.
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Sam Mitchell has moved to second place on the Hawthorn career Brownlow Medal votes list. His 16 votes in the 2013 Medal has taken his career tally to 170, passing Shane Crawford (159). He is now behind only Leigh Matthews (202 or, adjusted for double votes in 1976-77, 173.5). He is also on the verge of entering the top ten in the VFL-AFL.
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Hawthorn and Fremantle have met in one previous Final and remarkably have only clashed once before at the MCG.
The Final was an Elimination Final at Subiaco in 2010 when the 6th placed Dockers beat the 7th placed Hawks by 30 points – 14.10.94 to 8.16.64. The one game at the MCG was in Round 11, 2011 and, in fact, is the only meeting between the two clubs in Melbourne since a Docklands meeting in 2001. (7 of Hawthorn’s last 8 home games against Fremantle have been at Aurora Stadium).
While that 2001 Docklands game saw the Dockers produce a big last term to roll the Hawks, the 2011 MCG clash produced the reverse as the Hawks kicked 8.1 to 1.3 in the final quarter to turn an 18 point three quarter time deficit into a 22 point win – 17.9.111 to 13.11.89. Cyril Rioli kicked 5 and Luke Bruest 3 (after coming on as the sub) with others in the best being Michael Osborne, Sam Mitchell and Grant Birchall.
Since losing the 2010 Elimination Final, the Hawks have won their last 4 against the Dockers, and overall hold a commanding 20 to 7 advantage in the overall head-to-head between the two clubs. The Grand Final will certainly smash the record attendance for a game between the two clubs which is currently the 42,719 who attended the 2010 Subiaco Final. The largest in Melbourne was 39,735 at Waverley in Round 22 1998, a bumper crowd for Jason Dunstall’s last game.
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This will be the third time Hawthorn has played a Grand Final on 28 September. The Hawks were thrashed on that date by Essendon in 1985, but then squared the ledger by thumping the Eagles in 1991.
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Luke McPharlin and Zac Dawson will become just the fourth and fifth former Hawthorn players to play against the Hawks in a Grand Final. The only previous examples were David Flintoff, Gary Ablett Snr. and Josh Kennedy. Flintoff played one game for the Hawks in 1983 before shifting to Melbourne, where his 31 games included the 1988 Grand Final, while Ablett played 6 games for Hawthorn in 1982 before his lengthy Geelong career which included the 1989 Grand Final. Josh Kennedy joined the list last season.
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Michael Osborne has managed the rare feat of playing in two Box Hill Hawks premierships, 12 years apart. As a 19 year old he was a member of the 2001 team which beat Werribee at Princes Park and now, as a 31 year old, he has played in the team which defeated Geelong at Docklands last Sunday. In between, he was an important member of Hawthorn’s 2008 Premiership team, with four other members of that 2001 VFL Flag team – Chance Bateman, Robert Campbell, Sam Mitchell and Mark Williams.
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Sad news last week with the passing of 1960s Hawks player Mike Demaine at the age of just 65. Demaine was recruited from Mornington and played 11 games in 1965-66.
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The most goals kicked by a Hawthorn player in a Grand Final are the 8 by Dermott Brereton in the78 point loss to Essendon in 1985. Jason Dunstall kicked 7 in 1988, plus 6 in 1986 and 1991. Others to kick 6 were Leigh Matthews in 1983 and Paul Abbott in 1988. The most goals by a Hawthorn player against Fremantle is the tally of 8 by Mark Williams in Round 1 2006, in Launceston.
